A wild top 25 ride for Cougar football in ESPN's Football Power Index rankings; Washington State now No. 22 in the land, says ESPN

Barry Bolton

10/14/2016

IF WASHINGTON STATE WINS on Saturday vs. UCLA, do the Cougs move into the AP and Coaches top 25 polls .. or just work their way closer in the others receiving votes category? Nobody can say for sure but what can be said: Wazzu is already a top 25 team in ESPN’s chief college football metric.

Before the season, ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) predicted a 7-win campaign for the Cougs. After Washington State lost its first two games and then clobbered Idaho, the FPI had adjusted its predicted win total, positing that WSU had only four more wins left on the schedule and would finish with a 5-win campaign.

But now that WSU has destroyed Oregon and (especially) Stanford by a combined 93-49 score, the FPI now projects an 8-win season for the Cougs.

More, it projects Washington State will not lose again until its winning streak hits 8.

Washington State’s preseason FPI score was 8.6, which placed the Cougs No. 38 in the land. Headed into Saturday’s homecoming game, Wazzu's FPI score is 13.5, which ranks the Cougs No. 22 in the nation, according to ESPN.

UCLA, by the way, has an FPI score of 13.9, which ranks 18th nationally.

Here is a weekly look we put together at how WSU this season has fallen, and risen, in ESPN’s FPI:

Through Week 5

ESPN.com

Here is how WSU looked preseason, and now today, in the FPI with projected results for remaining games: